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ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT IN CHURCH SETTING: A CASE STUDY OF ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH, NIGERIA

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The Complete Guide to Church Change Management

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the administrative management in church setting, using Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria as a case study. A survey research design was adopted and a random sampling technique was used to select thirty (500 respondents) comprising of the Pastors/Church Leaders, workers and members. However, only three hundred (300) responded to the questionnaire. Research questions was used as a guide to the study. The instrument for the study was the questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed by used of Chi-square statistical tool and simple percentages. In the analysis, the findings showed that there are factors responsible for ineffective administrative management in the Nigerian church setting, effective administrative management do contribute to church growth in Nigeria, Also, leadership preparation programs do make management learning explicit through management course offerings. It was concluded that the place of God in administrative management must not be compromised since God has a leadership template of degree and kind for every human endeavor. Church administrators therefore are expected to exercise their authority by first seeking God’s will and leadership with all their heart for divine grace and direction. Some recommendations were made to find a lasting solution to the challenges discovered in the study.

                                                CHAPTER ONE
                                               INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Effective church administrative management is one of the most urgent needs today among Nigerian churches. There is an urgent need for a balanced ministry for the church today, besides the teaching and preaching aspect, it is expected that church leaders should be skillful in managing and developing administrative leadership in the church. Effective administration is very critical in determining the longevity of every organization, with church inclusive. However, churches are unique in the sense that church administration and management is different from business or secular management. The church is a voluntary convergence of a congregation to fulfill God’s purpose through the church leaders. The Holy Spirit is the dominant personality when it comes to church administrative management, unlike the business setting where the investors and the shareholders dictate the pace of administration. Most churches in Nigeria still have a long way to go in bringing their administrative capacity to fit into today’s realities. This becomes pertinent as most of this new ministries place little or no value to effective administration and church management (Dairo, 2007).

The church is both an organization and spiritual entity (Gabriel, 2006), thus church leaders must live up to the leadership and management of both entities. The church as an organization is exposed to insufficient education in management principles and skills through formal education that, in turn, results in leaders that often struggle to perform the basic managerial tasks expected of them (Abogunrin, 2006), Consequently, the lack of basic management principles and skills negatively affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the church in pursue of its vision (Dairo, 2007), According to Lewis and his group of scholars, “an effective way of developing managerial skills is to follow a general learning model which involves conceptual knowledge, behavioural guidelines, skills development exercises, feedback and frequent practice”. The reason being that, for a ministry to be effective, it depends on the management and leadership skills of the pastors (Oluwasegun, 2005). 

There are some common features in various definitions of management. It will be presumptuous for anyone to attempt a definition that will satisfy the populace especially regarding church management. Management is nothing if not linked to collective purpose; and the effectiveness of management must be judged not by press clippings but by actual social change, measured by intent and by satisfaction of human needs and expectations which on the long term will be visible on the church growth and development.

Oluwasegun (2005), defines management as the ability to gain consensus and commitment to common objectives beyond organizational requirements which are attained with experience or contribution and satisfaction on the part of the working group. Management could also be defined as the relationship in which one person or the management influences others to work together willingly on related tasks to attain that which the management desires. It is a means of direction. Management is the ability of management to induce the subordinates to work towards a group’s goals with confidence and keenness. It implies that the management accepts responsibility for the achievement of the group objectives and it is, therefore, essential for the trust and cooperation from both sides to be evidence all the time (Oluwasegun, 2005). Management is an art of getting things done. It can be learnt, improved, developed and perfected. It is the key process of influence and the process always includes a number of key components such as management and followers, they interact in situations and means of influence which emerge from the management and from the followers, based on their value system and goals which the management and the followers seek to achieve (Dairo, 2004).

With respect to church management, it implies that the church management gives direction, motivates, reprimands and develops a set objective along with his group and resolves individual or group needs within the church. This is perceived as the only way towards the church growth. In the New Testament it was more often used as Christological title for the exalted Jesus. The results of semasiological and lexicographical investigation of secular Greek indicate an extremely polyvalent spectrum of meaning for the word “church management”, the basis being he who is the first, who stands at the head of, who leads.

This implies that church leaders need to be educated on management issues and apply these principles in church management so as to achieve ministry effectiveness. Antony and Est,erp (2008) says “management is important to the church in three aspects. First, it calls church leaders to commit to organizing the institution to achieve its vision, focusing on the proper utilization of resources”. Lotich underscores the same view (Lotich, 2009). Second, church leaders do not provide ministry in a vacuum but within the context of people, as such ministry is all about people and not programs. However, individuals have strengths, weaknesses, gifts and desires which require the church leader to have some management skills to allow him serve the people more efficiently. This view point is also supported by (Welch, 2010). Third, the church has a vision and mission which they cannot accomplish apart from coordinated effort. Support lines need to be established and defended, materials need to be acquired and people need to be selected and trained. This is echoed by (Oluwasegun, 2005). All these activities are at the heart of sound management and they require the application of management functions which are critical for ministry operation otherwise the church is compromised and negated (Oluwasegun, 2005).

Reported literature asserts that most pastors are adequately trained with regards the spiritual aspects of ministry but they are not adequately trained in terms of the management aspects (Zeitchik, 2021). This lack of management skills development in the pastors leaves them exposed to many management challenges. It also leads to the ineffective management of the church’s tangible and intangible resources which then results in issues like embezzlement, stagnation of the church, mass migration of congregates, removal of pastors from office over issues of mismanagement than doctrine and abuse of church resources.

Read Also: THE BIBLICAL PATTERNS OF CHURCH LEADERSHIP TUSSLE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE CHURCH GROWTH

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Church administration in the 21st century is critical for doing effective ministry. Church management becomes more tedious and complex as the day goes by, the church now has to offer more than just a sermon and sanctuary for worship. Today’s church today has transformed into arenas that were hardly visible years back. The 21st century church is now a conglomerate, offering all the spiritual help it should and even more. For instance, churches now have day care centres, medical centres and hospitals, drug rehabilitation, drama ministry, senior citizen programs, divorce management committee, youth organization, football clubs, vocational training and skill acquisition centres, ministry to incarcerated, anger management, centres for HIV/AIDs check-up and sensitization, and welfare ministers for the widows, homeless and many more. All these facets requires experienced administrators, qualified personnel to run them effectively. Someone has to be a steward of the interest of the church and its leadership. It is important that someone other than the pastor be put in place to run the administration structure of the church while the pastor nurture the spiritual growth of the church. Sadly, most of those put in this position are targeting using the church resources to enrich themselves leaving the church ridicule and litigated. Which calls for faithful and trustworthy persons to coordinate these other facets while the pastor watch the sheep. The lack of an efficient administration hinders ministries in reaching the greatest level of ministry effectiveness. Assemblies of God Church in Nigeria has been observed by the researcher to be an organization which is prolific in church planting but this feat is not commensurate with ample training of leaders for strategic development and growth of the churches planted. As a result, several of their branches are lost or weak with a resultant loss of resources, finance and human capital due to lack of strategic planning and administration. It is disappointing that many churches and pastors have failed to grasp the importance of ministry administrators/assistants. However, this study is examining the administrative management in church setting in Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main aim of this study is to examine administrative management in church setting. The specific objectives are;

  1. To examine the factors responsible for ineffective administrative management in the Nigerian church setting.
  2. To find out the contributions of effective administrative management to church growth in Nigeria.
  3. To determine the extent that pastoral preparation programs offer management training to enable church leaders to effectively manage the church’s resources which ultimately contributes to ministry effectiveness.
  4. To proffer solutions to church administrative management challenges and to reinforce Church leaders with materials relevant to strategic administration in the ministry.

1.4 Research Questions

The following questions were carefully formulated to guide the study:

  1. Are there factors responsible for ineffective administrative management in the Nigerian church setting?
  2. Does effective administrative management contribute to church growth in Nigeria?
  3. Does leadership preparation programs make management learning explicit through management course offerings?
  4. What are the solutions to church administrative management challenges and to reinforce Church leaders with materials relevant to strategic administration in the ministry?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

H0: There are no factors responsible for ineffective administrative management in Nigerian churches

H1: There are factors responsible for ineffective administrative management in Nigerian churches

H0: Effective administrative management does not contribute to church growth in Nigeria

H2: Effective administrative management do contribute to church growth in Nigeria

1.6 Significance of Study

This research study will he significant in many ways, at the end of the study, the following will be established.

  1. Outcome of the study will relevant to church planters for strategic administrative management which will lead to Church growth.
  2. It will also be used as a reference materials for leaders outside the four walls of the church e.g. Business men and CEOs.
  3. This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researcher interested in carrying out further research in this field. Subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic.
  4. It will also be relevant to Students obtaining courses in management and administration all over the world.
  5. It shall also be relevant to the Churches in Nigeria in analyzing the strength and weakness of their administrative structure

1.7 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study shall be confined to Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria in which careful study will be taken into consideration on the Problem and Prospect of Effective Administrative management in Church and its implication for church growth and development.

1.8 Research Procedure

With the intention of acquiring more knowledge and understanding on the
concept of administrative management in the church, the following procedures were taken:

  1. Materials from relevant authors and authorities on this subject matter were reviewed, especially those of Christian literatures, magazines and lecture materials, some literature books such as textbooks, commentaries, concordances. Dictionaries, Handouts were gotten from LIFE Theological Seminary Library, Lagos State, Online Journals and Personal Library.
  2. The researcher also consulted the internet for information on this subject matter. And of course various document from the Assemblies of God Church in Lagos State.
  3. Lastly, Questionnaire were also administered to Pastors and Church leaders, Staffs in Assemblies of God Church workers and other selected members of the organization to gather relevant information for a reliable compilation.

1.9 Limitation of the Study

Despite the end product of this research work, this project faced some constraints such as time, fund, gathering of’ materials and co-operation from question respondents at the collection of data. However, the researcher did this possible best to present a valid report.

1.10   Definition of Terms

The following words shall be given a proper definition as to the way they are to be used in this research project to enhance more understanding for the readers.

Administration:

The function of providing (effectively) spiritual and organizational leadership to the church or area of the church for which persons are responsible.

Administrative Board:

The governing body of a local church comprised of clergy and key lay members, elected by the Charge Conference.

Administrative Council:

The governing body combined with the program body of a church, including the pastors and key lay members of the church, who have been elected by the Charge Conference.

Church:

When spelled with a capital C, refers to the church in general or the denomination. When spelled with a lower case c, refers to a local body of believers in a given location, .e.g. parish, charge or larger parish.

Management:

The function of providing spiritual and organizational leadership to a church or area of a church for which a person is responsible. It involves the total work of clergy and lay leaders, including all functions of enabling the church to establish its mission and facilitate movement to fruition.

Manager:

One who is responsible for offering spiritual and organizational leadership to a specific area of the church, i.e., key leaders.

Organization:

A system around which the church is structured. Tradition: Refers to the accepted experience, roots, history, and culture of people through ages.

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